Everyone is proud of Brandon Garrison, especially Mark Pope

Mo Dioubate and Jaland Lowe may have been the stars of Kentucky’s win over Indiana, but Brandon Garrison deserves credit, too. Four days after getting benched during the NC Central game, Garrison responded, playing a key role in Kentucky’s second-half comeback vs. the Hoosiers.

The junior big man finished with six points, five rebounds, two assists, two turnovers, a block, and a steal in 20 minutes in the 72-60 victory. The numbers don’t really do his performance justice. Garrison made lots of little plays in the second half, but also may have had the highlight of the night, a dunk off a lob from Otega Oweh, which capped off a 23-5 Kentucky run and brought the Rupp Arena crowd to its feet.

Float like a butterfly, sting like BG 🤩#GoBigBlue x @brandonGarriso pic.twitter.com/ebHziFe5in

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) December 14, 2025

What a moment for Garrison, Kentucky’s most criticized player this season. On Tuesday, he drew the ire of Mark Pope for not running back on defense after a turnover. Pope was so mad that he called a timeout to chew Garrison out, breaking a clipboard in the process. Garrison sat out the rest of the game. Pope told Tom Leach tonight that the two had a “very animated conversation” in front of the team afterward as well.

“Brandon did not have a good night,” Pope said of Garrison’s performance vs. North Carolina Central on Tuesday. “He didn’t have a good minute. He kind of broke some cardinal rules about wearing the Kentucky jersey. I don’t want to make it bigger than it is, but there’s just a standard that we can’t ever follow.”

Instead of pouting, BG went back to work, winning all the sprints in practice on Thursday. Tonight, he built on that in a big way, helping the Cats get a desperately-needed win at home. Pope couldn’t have been prouder.

“I wish I could tell you I know how every player is going to react to every confrontation or conversation I have with him, but you don’t,” Pope told reporters afterward. “It’s just like your children, you don’t. So I’m left with just real pride. Like, BG’s mom should be really proud, and his inner circle should be really proud, because there’s something inside him.”

Pope referenced Garrison’s two-year-old son, Akarii, and his mother, Toni, when talking about how the junior dug deep to respond to adversity.

“There were 100 reasons why BG could have gone in the corner and complained with a teammate or called out to coaches or hung up his jersey or come and been a pouty guy in practice. There were 1,000 reasons why that could have been his reaction, but due to what’s inside him, and how he wants to be a father, an example to his son, and how he wants to make his mom proud, and how badly he wants to be successful in the process of him growing up to be, hopefully, a great man, which hopefully he can do. That would be worth everything.”

“He showed up to practice, and we go through practice. He has a great practice. You know, we don’t do a ton of conditioning in practice, but this day, we did. And he just, on his own, just won every sprint, out-sprinted every guard, every single person. And I didn’t tell him to do that. I didn’t prep him to do that. That was just his response.”

Of course, tonight is just one game. The road ahead won’t be easy, and Jayden Quaintance will soon make his Kentucky debut, adding another big man to Kentucky’s already crowded frontcourt. Still, Garrison’s performance tonight showed that he’s not ready to fade away just yet.

“He was unbelievable tonight,” Pope told Tom Leach. “Defensively, he had to run defensively; it was unbelievable, and his effort and energy, and commitment were great. And so our job is to win. It’s all about winning, but in the process, you get to watch these young men grow. And I’m so proud of Brandon Garrison. We’re going to have stumbles and setbacks in the future, but he is growing, and it’s really awesome to watch. Man. It’s very cool.”